Chris's Log

[holenother]

As I try to commit myself more fully to the practice of stretching and relaxation, I want to join the forum with a log of my sessions. My hope is that the goals I'm pursuing by enrolling in the Mastery courses have more substance to me as I share my progress in a more public way. 

I have never been very flexible, but as I enter my mid-30s I want to be a good steward of the mobility I have now while hopefully getting closer to ability like touching my toes, squatting with my heels on the ground, and moving my shoulders more freely. And I recognize that this will take real focus and patience. So I appreciate the space I have here to talk about how this goes!

Today I began with the lower body. 

I did limbering movements Sumo Squat, Boxing the Compass, and Baby Flop for about 5 breaths each

I did exercises Relaxed Lunge, Standing Knee lifts and 3 rounds of Full Squat, focusing on bringing my torso to my thighs. 

My right hip pops in the socket when I lift it and aches a bit when seated for longer periods. This has also been an impetus to take stretching and mobility more seriously. But in the squat I feel strong if not super mobile. 

[Kit_L]

Welcome, @holenother. You've started; that's the big one. You'll get plenty of help here. And read this:

https://stretchtherapy.net/relaxation-wiki/

And if you're sore from an earlier workout, skip today's and go for a walk, or a swim, instead. All this takes time.

[Matt Chung]

> I have never been very flexible, but as I enter my mid-30s I want to be a good steward of the mobility I have now while hopefully getting closer to ability like touching my toes, squatting with my heels on the ground, and moving my shoulders more freely. And I recognize that this will take real focus and patience. So I appreciate the space I have here to talk about how this goes!

Welcome! Similar to you, I started stretch therapy May 2024, when I turned 35, and had similar intentions. Looking forward to your log.

[holenother]

Thanks for the welcome! I read the article after a day and will have more words in response on relaxation and what it means for me in this moment when I have a little more time, but suffice to say I wish I'd spent more time on that practice of quiet rather than digesting the torrent of really aggravating footage out of Minneapolis today! 
No good segue: here was my stretch practice:

The shoulder warm up is actually hard work for me lol, even just the swinging and circling of the arms. I like the feeling of loosening and warmth but it’s honest work.

I found a nice beam as an anchor point and a strong band for Yuri band exercises, which do feel effective in unbinding the shoulder in a very palpable way. I especially feel tight on my left side when pulling behind the body at the midpoint with the band. Also the left when pointing upward, I feel it radiate from the point of my shoulder to my neck. Not in a terrible painful way but in a locked way if that makes sense.

I love the stick movements. Really feel in control of the exploration here. Just fun. Internal rotation is also much tighter on my left side. I am right-handed so this probably shouldn’t be entirely surprising but it’s interesting to pay more attention to the discrepancies and how they materialize.

For exercises, I did the modified cat pose, both on the ground and on a chair as I don’t have stall bars. I did some internal rotation against the wall. And I did about 5 seconds of hanging by my full weight from each arm, after which I cheated and did some hanging with my feet supporting most of my weight but exploring the range of motion in the shoulder. All three of these exercises were on the strong side of sensations so I feel properly spent by this effort. I will be looking at a long relaxation session when I have time later during this long weekend.

[Kit_L]

Do you have something you can hang from?

[holenother]

Yes, I have a chinup bar 

[Kit_L]

The best thing you can do for your shoulders is learn to hang, eventually (apart from our hands) being fully relaxed, for time. We have some videos on our YouTube channel that talk about this. I would definitely do this before doing the warming up exercises for the shoulders – and you can do a set at the end as well and then chart the sensations in the shoulders over time.

When I was making the YouTube video, my then training partner Craig and I learned to hang by one arm for a five full minutes, alternating the arms every 30". This is a bit extreme but nothing will help your shoulders and improve your grip strength more than this. Of course, start with two arms!

[holenother]

Worked on my squat today

limbering: boxing the compass, butterfly and some sumo squat

exercises: relaxed lunge, diamond pose and a little time in full squat with my heels elevated. 
 

Diamond pose is something I feel down the entire length of my leg, with sharper sensation behind the knees. Another pose I am interested to stick with and observe over time, not least of which because I saw a video of 100 year old Dick Van Dyke doing the pose with ease. 

Lunging is strongest in my hips, and I’m trying to avoid over doing it there because I’ve felt like knots multiply in my flexors after too much direct pulling. Trying to strike a balance.

Holding a deep squat, I feel a lot of effort in my shins, hips, and back. My right knee is difficult but not terrible. I feel confident here though, very optimistic about room for potential in this pose.   

I plan to begin my day tomorrow with a relaxation lesson as a kind of Friday treat. I’m looking forward to it! 

 

 

[Kit_L]

4 hours ago, holenother said:

Holding a deep squat, I feel a lot of effort in my shins, hips, and back.

That is because your ankles are not loose enough and the muscles at the front of the shin have to work hard to pull the knee as far forward as possible against that resistance. Same with the lower back: if your ankles are not loose enough, the only way to maintain your balance is to bend the trunk forward to bring the central gravity forward. Work on all the ankle stretches we have, both on our side and on YouTube.

Once you're loose enough in the ankles, you'll be able to drop your body weight down without any muscular effort whatsoever – and the weight of the body will keep you in the bottom position of the squat. This is how most Asians hang around to smoke a cigarette –and we're talking about 80 and 90 year-old men here. It's definitely doable and it will only take time and a bit of effort.

[holenother]

I spent several days of shoveling snow after the big east coast snow storm on the 25th. Without the Daily 5, I’m not sure my back would have survived the constant demand. 
 

I focused on my shoulders today. I limbered by hanging as suggested, and stretched out with the band. My focused stretches were my internal and external rotators - against the wall and my own hip respectively - and the cat stretch variation. I better understood “moving my hips out of the way” this attempt, which made more sense to me as pulling my non-stretching-side hip towards the same side shoulder in the horizontal plane. It’s a fun puzzle to work on a pose and explore for the tightest line. 

Hanging again after stretching, I felt the burn most in my hands and in the caps of my shoulders. And I felt a bit penned in by my arms because my head neither hangs relaxedly in front of our behind them. But mostly it felt good to hang. 

[Kit_L]

I believe it is a true plus to hang daily. I try to do this every day myself.

Initially, if there's not enough range of movement in the shoulders, you will feel it there – but as your lats loosen and the arms and spine come into alignment (and this might take a bit of active hanging to achieve), then one day you'll find that you can actually relax completely apart from your hands working. This is a major change and in my experience 100% beneficial.

[holenother]

A few moments from the past week:
I threw out my back doing a slightly too aggressive updward dog after a long set of cleaning and pressing weights. In hindsight not the most surprising injury but I had been feeling less vulnerable after my work in the snow. 

I found it helpful over the week to keep moving the back to the extent that the problem area allowed, and to find ways of stretching other areas around the low back like the lunge, figure 4, diamond pose, and some light twisting. I also noticed how much of the pain would subside with letting go of tension and how the worst positions for the back felt like an attack of tension when I'd roll over wrong in bed or on the couch. A week later and the sensation is just a little bit of point of soreness, and I'm able to move normally. 

This morning I finally set aside 15 minutes to practice lying relaxation. I did this on hard mode with a cup and a half of coffee before hand, but still felt a great and beneficial effect from the time spent breathing. My main difficulty is allowing the time to be an experience without judgement. I find that I treat moments of meditation as thresholds before which I was one way and after which I ought to be "better". A kind of new year's resolution in miniature, with subsequent failure to live up to expectations as a predictable comedown. Like this log, I want to continue practicing regularly so that it can be less and less crucial that I do it "well". And notice what happens as I continue. 

[Kit_L]

8 hours ago, holenother said:

A kind of new year's resolution in miniature, with subsequent failure to live up to expectations as a predictable comedown.

Best to have no expectations with respect to this activity. The is no such thing as a "bad" relaxation or meditation session (or a "good" one, for that matter): there is only the noticing of what happens in the process. There will be distractions; that is what is happening, and not good, not bad. This is meditation, and relaxation practise. Before you begin next time, say to yourself, "suspend all judgements".

I hope this doesn't sound too cryptic, but the root of all suffering is the deep wish that reality be something different to what it is.

Breathe, and relax.

[Matt Chung]

> I hope this doesn't sound too cryptic, but the root of all suffering is the deep wish that reality be something different to what it is.

Not to hi-jack this thread but learning to accept things as they are in something I'm actively working on, specifically regarding to interpersonal relationships. I'm getting curious about the dialectics of having empathy for someone (which some times borders making up what some consider "excuses" for them), extending compassion, and while at the same time, seeing people's behaviors for what they are. That is, I've been told (by a number of trusted friends and family) that a blind spot of mine is "extending too much grace" to the point of delusion and through some life circumstances this past year, I'm practicing seeing people/behavior for what they are and in many ways, has reduced my suffering (while increasing disappointment). Anyways, finding a lot of the relaxation practices bleeding into my day to day life.

[Kit_L]

Puuuurrrrr-fect (we love cats; cats really don't care about what you thinking!).

I wrote, "the root of all suffering is the deep wish that reality be something different to what it is". This is not a recommendation to be passive, either. We recommend "skilful means": this means explore all options that might bring about the state you will be comfortable in. There are alway infinite options, but we are all conditioned to see options as "this" or "that". 

11 hours ago, Matt Chung said:

having empathy for someone (which some times borders making up what some consider "excuses" for them), extending compassion, and while at the same time, seeing people's behaviors for what they are.

This is seeing clearly; this is one of the goals. Keep going. Reading your comment today created a little burst of joy!

[holenother]

It was a tense March, no other way to describe it. I got a little too heavy into stationary biking and got hit with a seasonal illness for longer than I expected. In both conditions, my kneejerk reaction was to clench and grit through rather than take time to relax and listen to the body. 

Back today on daily 5 and hanging, I feel a bit better about "just doing this" in regards to both stretching and documenting it. I sense a close relation between holding tension in different places in my body, like my hips or my posterior chain, and wanting to keep my life closely held and private. I can work to let more things go. 

If I were to take pictures of where I'm currently at, what kinds of poses would be good to record? I think this may help me set goals and review progress more clearly. 

[Kit_L]

To answer that question ("what kinds of poses would be good to record?") depends on where you feel the most restrictions. If you advise, we may be able to offer suggestions.

[Gareth O Connor]

In terms of wanting to keep your life closely held and private is it the fear of self-disclosure?.Was the seasonal ilness brought on by overtraining?

[holenother]

Another few days of coughing and phlegm, I thought these seasonal illnesses were supposed to be one per season. My wife thinks I'm milking it. 

In the past I'd say the restrictions I feel most are in my shoulders and the back of my legs. But the tightness recently has been very specific to my hips and lower back. Might be sitting at the desk for longer stretches than I used to, or these things just shift around. 

Doing a few squats and twists before bed, after tea, while a thunderstorm rinses the house.  

[Kit_L]

5 hours ago, holenother said:

My wife thinks I'm milking it. 

It's possible, but then again, the mancold... Seriously, though, this will pass. 

Re. what to do stretching-wise, you've got the Mastery course; it is more difficult to pick the useful bits from this than the Starter Course, which is whole-body and follow-along. 

5 hours ago, holenother said:

Might be sitting at the desk for longer stretches than I used to,

Very likely.